China's CGN extends its cooperation with Kenya

23 March 2017

China General Nuclear (CGN) and the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB) have extended their cooperation in the development of nuclear energy in the African country with the signing of two new agreements.

The signing of the agreements between KNEB and CGN (Image: KNEB)

CGN announced on 21 March that it had signed agreements with KNEB on the training of personnel and on the sharing of information. They were signed during the Kenya Nuclear Energy Week conference held in Nairobi on 14-16 March.

According to the nuclear power training agreement, CGN will provide Kenya with staff training and capacity building based on its Hualong 1 pressurised water reactor design. The confidentiality agreement stipulates the rights and obligations of both parties in sharing information on nuclear power development, which CGN said is "the prerequisite for both sides to carry out substantive technical and business cooperation".

In September 2015, CGN and KNEB signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the development of nuclear power in Kenya. Under that MOU, the two parties will discuss CGN's Hualong 1 technology and carry out comprehensive cooperation in nuclear power development and capacity building in Kenya. This will include research and development, construction, operation, fuel supply, nuclear safety, nuclear security, radioactive waste management and decommissioning.

Cooperation between CGN and KNEB began in 2012 when a Kenyan delegation conducted field visits to China. In May 2015, a CGN delegation visited Kenya and the two sides agreed to develop their nuclear power cooperation.

The country's National Economic and Social Council recommended in 2010 that Kenya should start using nuclear power by 2020 to meet its growing electricity demand, and the same year the Kenyan Ministry of Energy established a nuclear electricity project committee, subsequently transformed into the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board. The statutory body is mandated with fast-tracking the development of nuclear electricity generation in Kenya with a mission to promote "safe and secure application of nuclear technology" for sustainable electricity generation and distribution.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team conducted an Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review mission to Kenya in September 2015 and concluded the country had made significant progress in its preparations to develop a nuclear power infrastructure.